On The Prowl
by TheTravelWriter
Summary: Kagome's ship crashes on a planet that has been left in suspended animation for 50 years. With the hostile creatures now active she needs to fight to survive on a planet out to destroy her. Contains swearing, violence, and scenes that may disturb younger viewers in the future.
1. Prologue

A story set in the future where Kagome is part of the 'Jormungand' crew and they crash land. Much excitement. Wow. Amaze.

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><p><span><strong>PROLOGUE: The Final Journey<strong>

Everything was in tip-top condition upon first glance, Ayumi humming a tune with no words as she went about the daily check-up, toolbox swinging in her arms, allowing herself to burst into another song, voice bouncing against the metal walls as she practically skipped through the machinery.

She was in her natural environment; in a sense. Every cog, every gear was imprinted in her mind, set in place and always running at a smooth pace; oil and grease and metal was her life and she was proud of this fact.

Her skipping came to a stop at the engines.

Ah.

That was not supposed to be like that.

One of the engines, eight engines in all and a ninth for backup, had a hole in a place that there ought not to be a hole, and where there was an unwelcome hole there was a problem, specifically with flying.

Crouching down, she disconnected the currently switched off engine and attached the tubes to the ninth engine, observing the pipes and tubes for any faults, checking the ninth for any errors or equally unwelcome holes, glad to see that there were none and that they would be able to fly at full velocity.

They would have no time to repair the eighth engine and after this mission the ship would be scrapped; something that no member of the 'Jormungand' liked, but was forced to accept with the education act of 2908 kicking in; everyone under the age of sixteen was to take six hours of mandatory education. She and Kagome, and a number of other members of the ship, were under that age and though they would only remain in such education for one year maximum they would be expected to pay for one of the sleeker models with extra buttons and less work like everyone else.

That was something she did not like. Kagome hated it more; the ship having belonged to her father. The ship had character, life, and an attitude all of its own. Their captain was currently trying to sign a contract to keep the ship. Even with his boastful nature he would not be able to part with such a beauty; he too had been raised with the ship at his side.

'That'll do for now.' Such sour thoughts ruined her mood, and she was not known to be a bitter person; the quirky and optimistic engineer that had a habit of buying strange trinkets and wearing traditional Chinese. That was who she was, and she was not going to let some law ruin it. 'Now dinner.'

The Melting Brain was a strange sort of open area bar with Christmas lights on from December to July, the bartender a rather muscular man from New South Africa on Mars, his father always by the port a few feet away fishing though no fish were ever caught so close to human society; only boots and plastic bags. The boots were sold for scrap leather; leather always popular for the people who had the money to buy it. Plastic bags were a touch more useless unless he could be bothered melting them down.

"He catch anything interesting yet?" Their captain, Douglas, jabbed his thumb in the general direction of the crooked old man as Ayumi took a seat next to him, Kagome to her right with a glass of lemonade; she would have to be around for another ten years before she was legally allowed to drink and with police security tighter now than ever the bartender would not dare offer her a vodka and coke even on her final voyage.

"Nothing. Just more plastic." The amount of plastic that could be found in the sea was almost startling in how impressive it was, but living so close to the ocean, the group had grown used to the idea and had long since stopped being impressed.

"If he goes further in maybe he would catch a fish." Kagome commented. A horribly, mutated fish that would probably kill him, as all natural fishes did nowadays; the tragic incident of Fall 2496 leaving most creatures within ten kilometres of the Japanese Pacific coastline riddled with dangerous chemicals (not to say that they weren't before).

"He'd end up drowning himself trying to catch one." There was a silent agreement among the guests and the bartender before he took a glass and poured Ayumi a glass of orange juice; it was all she ever ordered if she was not feeling hungry, and she was not feeling hungry.

"Any problems?"

"The eighth engine has a hole in it. I attached the ninth engine, but I don't like it." It was in a weird place, she would dare say someone put it there, but to say that would be to distrust her own comrades as no one else would be able to get inside the ship without the entrance code or a permission card. "When will the delivery arrive?"

"It's what we're waiting for."

It was a strange case this time around. In their career they often received the unusual and bizarre, and sometimes illegal which they would deliver on bad days when there was little money coming in. The clients only showed themselves once, and only Douglas met them. He said they were a strange bunch in themselves; looked to be from Angreas, and they wore sunglasses and suits, which was to be expected with such bright lights and colours that they were not used to.

"Still, it's weird." He said after the meeting was over and contract sorted. What they were to deliver was an old style sleeping casket; for long travels back in the early days. It was sealed shut and in gleaming condition despite the fact that it was practically an artefact of at least five hundred years of age, and it was to be delivered to the prison planet Haryes; most certainly not a place for such a rare sight.

Kagome said they ought to leave it where it was and refuse, and more often than not when Kagome had a feeling that something ought to be left behind it was best to leave it behind. Douglas, however, said that it would be fine and that the one thing they really needed was money, especially if they were to get by after the temporary shutdown of the Jormungand. Though there was a long argument afterwards, Kagome forcibly agreed and stayed quiet for many hours later, glaring the whole time.

Three glasses later and the delivery truck arrived with a spotted delivery boy with a sneer on his face at the front, his clipboard passed to Douglas as he marked down the delivery, opening the back of the van and taking the unusual gem out.

It was heavy, like carrying a bear. It was carried along the ramp into the ship into the storage area. Being the only object they needed to deliver, the storage area was rather empty, the case secured along the back wall, certain to not collapse during travel. After they arrived at their destination they did not care what happened to it, Kagome especially who observed their strongest workers set it in place, only looking away to turn and walk up the metal stairs to the next floor, out of the way and out of sight. She would be glad to see it gone.

Engines on. Let the fans settle. Air pressure settled. Enough oxygen for the journey there and back. Gravity on. And all doors sealed. Douglas switched on the intercom, his voice heard throughout the ship as it slowly lifted.

"Attention all crew members; please stop all coffee making and buckle yourselves in. Anyone who fails to do this should expect to fly into the nearest wall and face immediate consequences." Lessons learned through experience were always the best. "Now please enjoy some relaxing country music. Also, Kagome, you might want to check the storage after we break through the gate."

The cheerful tune of 'Hate Lives in a Small Town' played in the background as Kagome sat in place. One of those seats that folded out; never comfortable, especially for space travel, feeling the whole ship rattle as they went through the gate. Her ears almost popped and she winced, expecting the horrible stab of pain before it eased and she let out a sigh, unstrapping her seat belt and rising, stretching and turning towards the door.

The lower levels were always cold; hot air did rise after all and the radiators never worked in the storage areas. The smell was always vaguely musty, the slight tang of oil in the air. Ayumi would always be fixing the pipes; they never worked even its golden days.

'Hello my worst enemy.' Not exactly her worst enemy; she had faced a number of wicked people and they were certainly more foul than a bad feeling. It was cold around the casket, they were naturally cold to preserve what was inside; like a corpse. 'Gross.' She doubted there was someone inside, and if they were the chances were that they would not be able to move for a long time; five hundred years of immobility damaged the body.

Everything seemed to be well from what she could see. Or at least, there was no surface damage so there was nothing for her to tell the captain about, switching on the intercom.

"Nothing wrong here. Can I have something to drink now?"

"No. You must be dehydrated. Go suffer in the corner. That's what happens when you're underage."

"Cute." With a slight chuckle she turned the intercom off.

Ayumi focused her attention on the engines once again. Perhaps paranoia, perhaps curiousity, she felt obligated to check and see if all was well. So she left her station and adjusted her dungarees, collected her toolbox, and escaped into the lowest abyss of the ship, almost hasty in her skip though she was certain that there was indeed nothing wrong and all was well.

It was always dark in flight. She tried to avoid the engines while they were on their flights; she was always worried that she would knock into something important or face something wicked in the dark that would turn her into goo or something less pleasant, and as a result she always brought a torch with her.

Turning said torch on, she shone it along the floor before lifting it in the direction of the engines, swearing for a moment that she saw something there, but if there was something there it was there no longer; and no unusual sounds could be heard. She could hear herself breath, she could hear her footsteps as she walked down the steps, and she could hear the engines and pipes rattling. She suspected exhaustion as continued onwards from the steps into the engine room.

On short flights the cook, a butch man with a thick accent that was always a challenge to translate, found himself cooking mainly to entertain himself. Never anything fancy; they had to keep an eye on their finances and expensive cooking was left to Earth and on special days. Sprinkling a combination of herbs, rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper on the piece of salmon, he flipped it over and repeated.

"Hey Butch." A nickname; they all had nicknames on this ship and Butch was the first that came to mind when he was taken aboard. Kagome stood at the doorway, passing through and going about her search of the fridge. Though she was rarely hungry, she always made sure to check the fridge at least twice each journey despite Butch telling her that they had plenty of food. "Where's Shark Bait?"

The ship doctor. Not exactly human with a Angreation mother, he had a blue hue to him and enormous green eyes.

"In his room." When his skills were not needed he was in his room reading or sleeping, more often than not attempting sleep; it was not often that he was able to rest with people always sick on earth. He took the flights as resting days for the most part; the crew knew how to take care of themselves. There were only a few occasions when his help was needed.

"Of course." Taking out one of the water bottles, Kagome leaned against the cabinets and watched Butch work. He did not care; he was not all that bothered about people seeing him in his work station. "I got a bad feeling about today."

"Don't we all." He too disliked what they were carrying. He got a bad vibe from it, and when he got a bad vibe he always made sure to have a knife close to hand. He was unhappy with Douglas for taking on such a strange task but unlike Kagome he did not fall into an argument with him, he simply went about his business with more caution. "Hopefully we'll just drop it off and that will be the end of it."

Ayumi knelt down by her trusted metal companions, resting the torch on the ground. She was close enough now to see the surface, to observe any faults that were there, and was relieved to see none at all. From the ninth to the first all was in tip-top condition. No strange holes or cuts or scratches to be seen.

'That's a relief.'

She reached down to pick up her torch. It was not there. It had rolled down the room as the ship tilted slightly, turning in the direction of their destination. Scurrying to collect it, reaching out into the light before quite suddenly snatch.

The view was beautiful even after so many travels. It was a planet no one dared to touch; while it was habitable, the species were all extremely dangerous and much more powerful than even humans. They were designed to survive, and to prevent them from travelling outside their planet, they were put under suspended animation and left alone. That was fifty years ago and no one broke the suspended animation yet. That was the way it ought to be.

To the left of the enormous windscreen a smaller, green planet could be seen. Their moon. The pilot would always offer it a glance before returning to her flight. She never used auto-pilot, always preferring to fly with her own two hands as she was taught. The co-pilot took pictures as always, she was a touch more carefree than her sister but no less capable.

The whole ship rattled, dipping slightly to the right. The pilot clicked her tongue, quickly glancing at the ship blueprint. The engine room was flashing red. Douglas switched on the intercom.

"Ayumi we have a problem in the engine room. I thought you said everything was fine." Her voice came out shaking, and she seemed to be out of breath.

"Dear god there's something in the engine room. Land. Land." She seemed to fall, making an 'umph' sound before letting out a scream and kicking something away that made strange clicking sounds. Douglas did not hesitate, switching the intercom to the whole ship.

"We're under attack. Everyone get to the engine room immediately. We might have to do a crash land."

"Where? There's no safe planets." They were tilting to the right regardless and the steering wheel was doing nothing to help. Regardless of how the pilot felt, they were going to crash and she knew exactly where.

Kagome cursed slightly as her whole body stumbled to the right. They struggled along the corridors, through the storage area and to the engines. While running Kagome saw that the casket was slightly agar and cursed louder. Whatever was attacking them most likely came from inside that casket; she was right to distrust it, but it was not the time for cursing, grabbing the nearest gun as they stumbled into the engine room, Butch behind her and the others following close behind.

She could see nothing but could hear everything. Ayumi was screaming, the sounds of her kicking audible in the dark. Kagome had better ears than most, and could hear the thing she was attacking, a clicking, snapping sound; like several tiny mouths.

Charging in the direction of Ayumi, Butch gathered the girl in his arms and ran back out as Kagome shot into the darkness, never sure if she was hitting at what was inside, Butch slamming the door shut, a tiny black hand squashed between the door and the doorway.

"That's not going to hold them off." Whatever 'they' were, they would get impatient at one point and find another way out. But there was no need for them to worry about that; for they were crash landing and they all fell as the ship dipped further to the right, almost vertical.

Running along the wall turned floor, they hurried into their suits, helmets and oxygen in place with frantic hands as they climbed into the escape pods. The pilots and captain abandoned their posts and doctor climbed into their separate pods. Letting the doors seal shut as quickly as possible, Kagome waited in anguish for the countdown. She never understood why they had a countdown, especially considering the fact that they would be in a hurry to leave and would not care too much for protocol.

'Come on. Hurry up.' Her fingers flicked switches and pressed buttons, clear to go at last, she held on for dear life and squeezed her eyes shut as she felt herself falling backwards, down into space. The projectors were hesitant for a moment before letting off jets of fire, descending towards the atmosphere of a planet that had not been touched for fifty years.

She could feel herself cooking in her suit, the whole pod reaching boiling point as she collapsed into the atmosphere, shaking and threatening to break apart. She felt as though she would be cooked to death; her body aching from the experience.

SPLASH.

She heard it before she saw, the entire pod covered by vibrant blue water. If she stayed inside she would reach the bottom of whatever she crashed into, taking off her suit as she pressed the door open. She would not be able to swim in it, water flooding the tiny pod, holding her breath as she was surrounded by it, kicking her legs and the boots back as she pushed herself towards surface, with each kick losing more oxygen.

Coughs and splutters followed her breaking the surface, letting her body lift upwards, floating along the calm surface. The sky was the same vibrant blue as it was on earth, the sun about the same size and colour. The faint grid of suspended animation quivered and collapsed, every living thing seemingly coming to life once again as she saw pods and the ship descending, slashing the sky with bright red and orange. She heard them crash, the water shaking slightly.

Turning, she swam to the surface. She was glad to know that she was not in an ocean, but a lake and not a large one. She was upset to know that not only had the ship crashed, but she was on a planet that was known to have extremely hostile creatures, and their ship crash would allow them to develop and spread out beyond their planet. She was also upset to know that, unless she was willing to swim to the bottom of the lake or search the area for the remains of the ship, they would not be communicating with the outside world, and even if she did, they would not pick her up.

'Crap.' She needed to find the others, group together, find a way out. Ayumi was good with scraps; perhaps she could help repair the ship. It would take a while, but they would not have to stay for the rest of her life. 'There was one that way…' They worked better together than apart. If she could just get everyone together they would be fine. Those were her optimistic thoughts, but the doubt was there. She did not know what they would do after they grouped together.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Introduction**

The immediate area was deprived of human life beyond a worn well that had been left incomplete and untouched for what appeared to be quite some time, with the plants already starting to take over the surface, and when she looked down into the well she found that there was certainly rain water in it, but it did not look safe in the slightest, so she avoided it. She was not especially thirsty, and considered it a waste of time to collect potentially polluted water when she could look for a safer supply elsewhere.

'Don't have anything to get it anyway.' There was no bucket, and she had nothing on her that could help.

She did not look for civilisation in the opposite direction, her attention directed to the east where her friends had crashed. She had hoped that the impact was not too hard. It would be a serious problem if any of them had experienced a concussion or other injury.

It would take her about half an hour to get to the first pod; she had already walked for ten minutes in the general direction of the crash but had seen no scraps scattered about from the ship; it was possible that it was even further away, and they would have to hike to it as well. That was, if they were able to do so before nightfall.

The forested scene had not changed throughout her time within it. She wondered if she had been walking in circles, but she was absolutely certain that she had not; she had not seen the same rock over and over again, and there were occasional changes. The ground crunched below her feet, still bare after she had kicked off her boots. She was glad to know that there were no tiny rocks for her to jab into, and the grass was gentle on her feet, almost reaching up to her knees in some places, unable to see the bottom half of her legs.

She would not mind had it not been for the fact that she did not know what could be lurking underneath. She hoped that the rabbits were as ordinary as rabbits on earth, and so forth. She sped up, not wanting to ponder on the thought for longer than necessary.

The smell of burning soon caught her attention, and when she looked about the trees she could see scorch marks on the ones up a slight slope she was in the process of climbing. Reaching the top of the slope, she could see that the grass was stained black, and several of the trees were still on fire. Up ahead, she could see the metal pod still firmly in place, half-buried in the earth, a small crater in the ground as a result of the impact. She was surprised that that was all that had happened.

"Butch! You're alright!" Butch sat outside the pod with the tiny figure of Ayumi close by. One of their pods must have been close by, and as she came trotting close she saw that Ayumi was injured, with her head bandaged, the front stained red and damp to the touch.

"We were just about to head out to look for the others." Butch answered to Kagome's greeting as Kagome knelt down to observe Ayumi's head injury. "I've stopped the bleeding for the time being, but we should get Shark Bait to check it out."

"Agreed. I saw the ship crash in this direction. I was the furthest away." Kagome glanced at Ayumi. She was in decent condition, and she appeared focused, but she looked tired as well. She was not sure if it would be safe to let her walk and stumble around.

Seeing Kagome's concerned expression, Ayumi did her best to smile, but the results were not as comforting as intended.

"We'll have to carry you; at least until Shark Bait can do a check-up." Ayumi began to protest, stating that she was fine and capable of walking on her own, but as she stood to prove this, she began to stumble and Butch stood to prevent her from falling.

"If that doesn't suggest injury I don't know what doesn't." She chose to be stubborn regardless, until Butch picked her up. Both of his arms were now full, Kagome being the one that would have to carry anything useful they found.

"By the way, back where I was there was a large lake and a well. I haven't seen anyone until now."

"We should be careful anyway." He did not need to say it twice. Kagome was already paranoid; she could not help but feel she was being watched, but her only company was birds.

The paranoid sensation did fade as they walked further away from the second site. She was certain that it was just a result of worry, and dared to say she felt safer in the closed space of the forest; but in most cases it was the other way around, so she did not maintain her sense of comfort for long, especially when the next pod was seen.

They stopped in place and crouched down out of sight, stopping all conversation and noise as they hid among the grass and trees. The thing that stood before the pod with an animalistic curiousity was clearly not human, with enormous bug eyes that seemed to bulge out of their face, a snout that seemed unable to close properly, and forever hunched in a way that made it seem much smaller than it actually was, knocking on the glass and scurrying about the pod trying to find some way in.

The creature stopped suddenly, in the process of pulling at the top of the roof, glancing in their direction with an expression that seemed almost nervous before jumping off and scurrying away in a half-hazard manner, jumping into the bush out of their view.

'What made it run?' They did not want to know, still firmly in place listening for what else could have startled the creature. When nothing came, they climbed out of the forested area and to the pod where Shark Bait was, paralysed entirely with shock, looking ready to break down into tears at any given moment as they appeared in his view.

"Open the door, Carflie, it's us." The few times that people actually used his name were in times in which he could focus on almost nothing at all, and Ayumi was the one to use his name, knocking on the door in an attempt to ease him out of his shock.

It somewhat worked as he fumbled with the pod buttons, pressing them with clumsy hands, falling through the door as it opened and almost onto the ground, caught by Kagome before he could actually hit it, breaking down into tears there.

"W-what the hell was that thing? What was it trying to do?"

"I don't know, but something scared it away." She did not know what could, and that unsettled her more than it should have, the dreadful feeling of being observed from close proximity setting her on edge once again. "Are you hurt?" Carflie shook his head, standing away from Kagome's arms, but his hands still lingered on her shoulders and his knees still shook, the shock of the entire situation doing no good for his health or mental stability.

"I didn't see any other pods. The others are probably in the ship." Which meant it was extremely likely that they were dead, and probably not a pretty sight for anyone. There was a silent agreement among them that they should recover the bodies from the ship once located, if only so that there was a proper burial for them.

They walked for a short period of time before it became clear that they were not alone, slithering through the forest wildlife as fast as they could but always glancing behind them, catching things in the corners of their eyes, but never when fully turned. They all knew something was following them, and if rumours were true about the creatures on the planet being much stronger than humans, it also meant that it was likely they would end up being someone's dinner.

That thought remained on their minds as a lake larger than the one Kagome had crashed into came into view, the almost unnatural blue water glistening out into the horizon far beyond what they could see.

They did not need to look so far, however, because the ship had crashed close to the land, crashed vertically and half-flooded by the lake water. None of them wanted to enter; their eyes on the water and what could possibly be lurking inside. Surely such a great lake contained more than just plants and tiny fish.

"Everyone set up camp here." Kagome was the one that spoke out. She was the fastest swimmer for sure, and Ayumi was in no condition to do much at all. Carflie would have to take care of Ayumi, and if any of them were in danger then Butch would be the strongest fighter. It was only logical to send her in. "If I don't come out in twenty minutes, assume that something has attacked me and leave." She hated the situation more than anyone, but did not complain out loud, wadding through the water until it was up to her hips before kicking off and swimming along the surface.

She found the water close to the ship to be warmer, and what was exposed to the sun stung her fingers, taking a huge gulp of air before diving under through an open door and into the ship.

The front half, where the pilots and the meeting room was, was at the bottom of the lake, and despite the silent agreement among them to recover the bodies, she felt she would be unable to at such depths, especially unprepared for long times underwater.

She climbed up the slight slope of the ship on all fours, always sliding the further up she went, opening doors as she passed by, climbing through at the unusual angle, her bed upside down and the blankets and pillows on what would have been the opposite wall, searching through the cabinets for anything useful.

She knew that she always kept a pair of spare boots under the cabinet and took them greedily, hanging onto the stands of bunk bed and climbing along to grab and rucksack, stuffing them inside and zipping it tight, slinging the rucksack over her shoulders as she swung her leg over the door frame, staring at the opposite door opened as she struggled to remain in place.

Climbing up the ship was difficult, but sliding all the way back down would be no problem for her, stretching onwards to grab at the frame, missing and starting to fall just as she snagged the frame within her grasp, sliding her leg up and over.

Her room was opposite the medical bay with the metal frame of the bed still in place, but everything that had been on the bed covering the sink and the mirror of the opposite wall, joining the covers as she opened the cabinet on what was now the floor, taking out the first aid kit. There were also several syringes inside and she stuffed them in the bag with the first aid kit.

'All right, food, water, and weapons.' Weapons were definitely on her list, and if she could not find water then just canteen bottles would be enough for her. They were, after all, completely surrounded by water, and she was not screaming in agony yet so she assumed that it was not toxic.

Rope was soon on her list of things to collect as she scrambled towards the next set of doors with increasing struggle, falling through and down into the wall where several things had fallen. Safety tethers were found among the space suits; for if they ever needed to secure ship problems while on the move. Oxygen tanks were also available, but she did not need them; the air was perfectly safe on this planet.

With the rope, the task of climbing to other rooms proved to be somewhat safer, but her challenges came with tying the rope to whatever was firmly in place, and when she fell, even though she was secured to something strong, she still had to climb back up.

When she reached the kitchen she was already concerned; Butch had a lot of knives for a lot of tasks and she had to be careful about where she jumped in case she injured herself, taking some of the more suitable knives as some sort of weapon. The actual weapon storage would be in the water now, and the guns would be useless to them. The knives would simply have to do their job well, and she was careful in putting them in the bag.

Large canisters of water were found, but she was not sure she would be able to swim with them without them weighing her down too much, and ended up taking the empty canteens instead, searching through the many cabinets of the kitchen, daring to giggle at Butch's ruined meal splattered against the wall with his cutting board.

"I'm going to need a bigger bag." The rucksack could only fit in so much. A few tins of food was all she could stuff in before it was clear that she could fit in no more, and she tried not to appear disappointed, stuffing them into the gaps in the shoes to make more space.

'I guess that'll do.' It would have to do. And she felt it would be a challenge to swim with it. 'Unless I can find a safety boat.' It was possible for her to climb to the top of the ship and climb out through the outside and inflate a boat. It would take on more weight for sure, and made it possible to take several trips to gather what they would need. It would also give them more time.

As she climbed, she wondered if the pests that ruined the trip were dead. They were locked up in the engine room alongside the coffin-like object that started the whole mess. She assumed that they would have fried as a result; the engine room was already the hottest part of the ship, but imagining it plummeting into the planet's atmosphere full force: surely they were dead.

'Well there's only one way to find out.' The only place that Ayumi revealed a safety boat to be was the engine room. There was no reason behind it, it was basically her secret storage and a number of unusual things could be found inside.

There was no noise inside, only a strange silence that had never been heard inside the engine room; at least, not while she was around. She fell straight down against the tanks and close to the coffin that remained exactly in place, the door slightly ajar as it had been since those horrible creatures attacked Ayumi.

'Monsters.' She dared to wonder if they were from the planet they were now stranded on; she had never seen them before. 'What else is in here?' She thought that surely the pod was too large to contain just tiny monsters and dared to open the door wider. It was already open so why not open it wider? Her fear and dislike of the capsule had turned into curiousity and when she opened the door it had turned into horror.

Suddenly she was much more interested in finding the safety boat and scrambled away, acting as though nothing had happened at all as she searched for Ayumi's secret storage, finding a number of things there, including the boat she most certainly needed. Yep, that was all she needed to get out, then they would be just fine. They just needed a way to contact the outside world.

"Move and I kill you." She felt something sharp along her neck and found a tanned, scarred hand there, and at the end of each finger was a prominent claw that could tear through flesh with little to no struggle, feeling it scrape against her throat as she gulped.

"I'm not your enemy."

"I've heard that one before."

"M-my name is Kagome Higurashi. I work on the ship 'Jormungand' as a navigator. We are a delivery ship." She responded as calmly as she could muster, never moving from her spot as she promised.

"And why the hell am I on your damn delivery ship?" His gruff voice left no time for thought.

"I don't know. I only just opened that capsule now, and it was already open when I was here."

"And why was I in it?"

"I don't know." She was still, not moving in the slightest though every part of her body demanded that she flee and get out of his way. "We are currently crashed on an unknown planet. The ship is in a lake right now."

He had already gotten up and left her in place, wandering the room with baffled curiousity. It was only then that she allowed herself to turn around and look at him properly.

He was in a prison uniform, and an old one at that. It was at least 50 years old, judging from the design. He had relatively well-tanned skin and it looked as though he had worked out, not that he needed to with claws like that. His hair was long and white, almost down to his knees, and his eyes were a very frightful golden colour; and they were certainly angry. What sparked her interest were his ears, which were not human. Rather, they appeared to belong to a dog, or a dog-related creature; poking out of the top of his head like strange triangles. If she could guess as to which dog breed, she would suggest a shiba inu.

After her careful analysis, she started towards the exit. She did not need to be there anymore, and she had gotten everything she needed, and so she was quite glad to leave the strange man behind.

"Oi! Where you going?" He was upon her in an instant. He was far too fast for her liking; she literally blinked and missed him.

"I'm leaving."

"Well I am too." Which, in his terms, meant: you're not leaving without me; you can't even try.

"I see, that's good to know." She did not argue blatantly; she had no power over him and he was certainly more capable of fighting her off than she would him; stuffing the inflatable boat into her rucksack before swinging out, falling slightly before the rope snagged, keeping her in place: the man watching dully as she started to climb. She was close to the top, that much she was fully aware of, and she was not intending to lose focus simply because he had taken to judging her silently as she slide along the floor, hanging onto the tallest point of the ship, fumbling with the hatch that would refuse to open.

When it opened and she climbed through, he jumped behind with no effort, taking one single leap before he was through and right next to her, watching her untie herself before letting his eyes wander to the scenery and to the figures along the shore.

Kagome seemed to be ignorant to the situation until she heard the screams, in which her mind was focused entirely on her travelling companions who were attempting to fight something off, finding that her fingers seemed to be made of wood; she could not untie the rope at all, and the man seemed to be doing nothing to help.

"Hey, leave them alone!" She screamed out, as though it were somehow possible to stop the attackers with her pathetic yells, finally free of the rope as they were dragged into the forest kicking and screaming, and she almost plunged head first into the water before she was stopped.

"You'll die if you do that."

"I can't just do nothing." She needed to get to them, slipping off the roof and beginning to climb down. The boat was gone from her mind as she started to climb down, frantically wanting to know where it was they had been dragged off to, what had dragged them, and how long it would take for them to die.

He had watched for half of the climb before he had enough, jumping down to collect her, Kagome screaming as he jumped forward, an enormous dent in the ship as a result of the sheer strength of the jump, squinting her eyes shut, clinging onto him as he landed on the shore with no struggles.

It was all he would do for her: that much was made clear after that moment. She would have to save them herself, and she did not plead the stranger taking into the forest without a second thought, not noticing the single glance that was offered her way before he turned his head back to shore, with confusion in his mind, wondering how it was he had returned to his home planet with no changes.

* * *

><p>I just realised that the initials for On The Prowl are O.T.P. Now isn't that a coincidence? 3539 words and I still don't feel like there's enough. I'm going to turn into George Martin at this rate.<p> 


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